Seven hours on a sofa... mountain

Random story: you know how during the summers, we get the guys from BC coming over to sell fresh cherries out of their vans on the side of the highway?  You can always spot the handpainted red on white sandwich boards advertising "Fresh BC Cherries" on the shoulder of whatever random road.   So anyways, this weekend I spotted one of these signs, but had to do a double take.  Because instead of advertising cherries, it said "Fresh Oil".   I guess we have such a bumper crop of currently worthless black gold that we've resorted to hawking it on the side of a highway like a mobile fruit vendor now? 

Anyways... most people wouldn't believe me when I say I spent 7 hours on a sofa this past Saturday, but it's true. At 5:00am, I dragged my carcass out of bed and drove 3 hours down towards the US border to scramble up Sofa Mountain in Waterton Lakes National Park. It wasn't soft like your average living room couch, but the views were way more impressive. There were a couple fun rock walls and chimneys to climb up, a short burst of rain to make it more challenging, the summit beers were tasty, and we descended before the thunder started rolling in. I could think of worse ways to spend a Saturday.

I'm not taking a photo, but instead am using the Peakfinder app to figure out which mountains we're looking at.
And this is Peakfinder in action.










Summit Brew: SYC Brewing Pineapple Dry Hopped Sour





Marmot!!

Fossils and Online Shopping

Last night, as I was crawling into bed, Anita says "I'm just gonna finish this article and then I'll turn out the light."  I was curious what was so interesting that she had to finish reading it before hitting the sack.  Turns out the 'article' she was referring to was an article of clothing.  So there you have it folks.  When your wife talks about "reading an article," that’s really just code for online shopping.  

I wanted to share a couple pictures of some fossilized sea shells with you.  Last month, we hiked up Eagle Peak in the Ya Ha Tinda area, and at the summit (2500m above sea level), we found a lot of fossils like this.  The Canadian Rockies were formed between 55 - 80 million years ago.  So this summit would have been below sea level before, and these fossils are millions of years old.  

 

Trip Report - Anklebiter Ridge

After two long weeks of depressing or enraging news headlines, it was rather refreshing to read a feel good story about a grizzly bear today. Apparently, the bear known as 399, one of the oldest known female grizzlies in the wild (24 years old), has just had another 4 cubs in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. 

And the thing I found the most fascinating about this bear's behaviour was this: "She walks up to a highway, looks both ways to see if any cars are coming and she'll lead the cubs across the highway for safety... And sometimes if the cubs are left on the other side of the highway, she will tell them to stay there in her own language." 

This bear knows to look both ways before crossing the highway! She probably has a higher IQ than most people. 

Anyways, here are a handful of photos from a quick hike a we did a few weeks ago.

  Nothing like doing a jump at the edge of a cliff. Grizzly 399 apparently has a higher IQ than me as well.  Look at the sick air Anita gets in this... :)
 





Summit Brew: Phantom Beer Co. Mindfuzz IPA.
 

A moment to recharge and refocus

This past week has been a constant barrage of rage inducing stories: of injustice, of blatant racism, and of ignorant folks that still think the promotion of rights, equality and justice for black people means taking away rights from others. The systemic problems inherent in our status quo can be demoralizing, and combatting the trolls that perpetuate it is exhausting.

It's been hard to think or focus on anything but race relations. But after a week of blackout tiles and screaming at the people and institutions that continue to divide, I find myself needing to step back momentarily from the anger and indignation. So I hope that by bringing this tiny bit of colour back to your feeds, you are reminded that while there is much work to be done to combat bias, bigotry and brutality, there's also still beauty and hope for renewal in the world around us. Don't forget to take a moment to recharge and refocus. And when you've re-energized, we continue the push for social change together.

Read. Listen. Learn. Donate. And most importantly, continue to advocate.